After a several year
hiatus of any serious father-daughter road trips, we decided it was time to
embark on (and continue) our tradition of spring training baseball games and
overall adventures. From the time I was in middle school through part of
college, we would go to south Florida for Orioles and Cardinals spring
training, some R&R and some good times with our friends, the Kinsloes. This
year we decided to flip it and reverse it and give Arizona’s Cactus League a
try – for a few reasons. We found out that 2 of our favorite artists – Nicki
Bluhm & the Gramblers and Allen Stone – would be performing at the McDowell Mountain
Music Festival, there would be an
Arizona D-Backs exhibition game and Opening Day 2014 on Monday. Following that,
we would road trip to Sedona and Las Vegas to visit Aunt Lynn and Uncle Tony.
This will be an epic week off work.
The trip began at an entirely too early hour of 4am on
Friday. Thankfully we didn’t have to function at a high level to park the car
and navigate our way to the terminal, as we were dropped off by my mama (BLESS
HER HEART). Dropping bags off was relatively easy, but TSA proved to be as
reliable and functional as ever (pause for sarcastic laughter), opening the TSA
lines late and therefore making many of us late for flights. Since I’m a
federal employee possessing a federal ID (not really, but the House of
Representatives was irresponsible enough to give me one anyway. Freedom.), I
found about a week prior that I could skip the security line by flashing my
federal ID. Take note, friends. I got to the gate as boarding began, and Dan
the Man made it on the plane about 10 minutes before the plane was to leave.
Way to go, Thomas clan. The plane ride itself was fairly mundane, as we both slept
a good portion of it and consumed way too many Lorna Doone cookies given the
time of day.
We finally landed in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, which basically
looks like Las Vegas without the hotel skyline. I was so stoked to not wear a
considerable sized coat for 8 days. The forecast while in Phoenix was 80+
during the day and lows of 60s. I considered kissing the ground and thanking
Mother Nature for this precious gift of tanning, continuous sunshine and
happiness. I restrained myself.
We took the Phoenix Valley Metro light rail from the airport
to downtown Phoenix to check in to our hotel for the trip. The light rail is
awesome – I wish the one on H Street NE would be that nice, but let’s be
honest…. The hotel was the downtown Sheraton convention hotel which meant a
sweet location for the baseball games and music festival. To us, it was about
noon, but realistically, by the time we got to the hotel, it was only about
9:30am. Luckily, they let us check in that early on the CLUB LEVEL (HOLLA),
which meant free food everyday! Awesome! Because all we had eaten at that point
was more shortbread cookies than any human should eat before noon. We ate,
settled in the room (and by that I mean I attempted to unpack my body bag of a
suitcase) and headed to the pool. There was no way I was passing up the ability
to get tan before noon in April. After getting sufficiently (and unevenly)
sunburned, we regrouped for some quality wandering time. We started by going up
to the park where the music festival was to be held – we weren’t going until
Saturday, but figured it would be a good idea to have some sense of direction.
The park was unassuming, right next to the Phoenix public library and a square
teeming with homeless folk. Naturally, we found ourselves at the closest head
shop to the festival, the Glass Joint, as they had a solid marketing plan (seen
below).
This is what I call advertising...
Friday night consisted of some further wandering, enjoying
walking around in less than a winter coat, and the D-Backs’ last spring
training game of the season at Chase Field. This was an addition to me and
Dan’s baseball stadium repertoire, and we were particularly impressed with the
retractable roof and most importantly, the pool and hot tub in center field!
Why isn’t this universal in all stadiums?? We realized that we really had no
affinity to either the Cubs or D-Backs teams, as we recognized a total of 2
players on both lineups…we had some learnin’ to do.
Me and Dan at Chase Field
Pool and hot tub in center field?!?!
Lettuce sounded as good as ever and induced a good amount of
groovability. They covered a friendly band of their’s, Soulive’s, song ‘Reverb’
and welcomed a powerful voice, Alecia Chakour, to sing on a few songs. She fit
perfectly with the band’s R&B sound. If you take Brittany from Alabama
Shakes and add even more soul, you have Ms. Alecia Chakour.
Lettuce @ Crescent Ballroom
Saturday was another beautiful day in Phoenix and also our
day for nothing but music. We had an all day ticket for the McDowell Mountain
Music Festival with some great acts – Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, Allen
Stone, Dispatch, Slightly Stoopid and Disco Biscuits. It was a very small
festival with one main stage and one stage for local acts. It had the typical
festival setup of food trucks, hippie garb, and depictions of Jerry Garcia from
every angle. After some wandering, Dan and I posted up in front of the stage.
Nicki sounded as great as ever with an outfit that I truly envy. They played my
favorite cover of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Somebody to Love’ and generally just rocked.
Allen Stone brought the soul to this festival (weird dance moves and all) and
Dispatch brought the reggae rock (think OAR, but better). I must admit that
after a long day in the Arizona sun, we left before Slightly Stoopid and Disco
Biscuits, but Slightly Stoopid will be at Bonnaroo and Disco Biscuits…well, I
just don’t care that much. The most exciting thing was getting to see long lost Baltimore friend Allison and boyfriend Jimmy who live in Scottsdale!
Me, Dan and Nicki Bluhm!
Me and Allison! Missed you girl!
McDowell Mountain Music Festival - Phoenix, AZ
Allen Stone - Quit Callin'
After napping for 3 hours (yes, it was necessary), it was time for another after-hours show with Allen Stone at the Crescent Ballroom – I was starting to feel like a regular. For a Saturday night, Allen Stone put on a great show, with a great groove and engaging demeanor. I tried to get Kahlil into Allen Stone, but I must admit, it was tough to get past the weird O faces throughout the performance. As fun and warm Phoenix is, it has a serious downside when it comes to ending ALL alcohol sales after 2am – I guess it’s not totally perfect. After searching high and low for any form of alcohol, AND severely annoying the Sheraton hotel staff, we called it a night.
Sunday was the first day we’d had since we arrived that we didn’t
have anything specific planned. It was time to get my shop and NCAA tournament
on. This was also the first day we had a car, so it was prime for exploring.
Dan wanted to take me to Sun Devils stadium, as it’s built into the side of a
mountain, so there we went. There just happened to be a Tempe, Arizona Arts
Festival the day we were there, so naturally I was on the hunt for some Arizona
turquoise. The festival was on Tempe’s Mill Avenue (think Five Points in
Columbia or Route 1 in College Park, but better). There were hundreds of
artisans and craftspeople, which was like going to Sedona without the sweet red
rocks in the background. Before it was too late, Dan and I realized that we
needed to catch the end of the Elite Eight games with beers, margs and wings –
FREEDOM. Kahlil even joined while his flight from hell was delayed.
As if having a sudden Great Lakes epiphany, Dan realized
that the only Ted’s Hot Dogs (Buffalo, New York’s tradition since 1927), outside
of western New York is in Tempe, Arizona! Clearly we were making a bee line for
Ted’s. As soon as we arrived, it looked like Ted’s had just been lifted and
transplanted from Buffalo. There was Buffalo paraphernalia everywhere inside
and the menu looked just the same with only a few additions. The best part was
eating a Ted’s hot dog outside in shorts in Arizona – what could be better? I
think Dan had a religious experience.
Ted's in Arizona!
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